YOU SHOULD NEVER APPLY TO A SCHOOL WITH THE INTENTION OF RECEIVING SWIMMING SCHOLARSHIP MONEY. It can not be the focus. The academics and the social fit must be the most important factor. Also, never swim as a means to get into college or secure a college scholarship. However, swimming in college is an admirable goal for any swimmer. And scholarships are possible.
Here was our recent journey that resulted in a swimming and academic scholarship. Academically: Freshman Year: made sure to enroll in core classes required by the NCAA with one AP class . Core classes can be found here: http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/core-courses 10th Grade: Continued with core classes with two AP classes. Took PSAT (read to #5 to find out why the SATs are STILL important). Started visiting campuses. 11th Grade: More core casses with more AP classes. Took SAT in the Summer before 11th grade and again in the Fall. We registered with the NCAA eligibility center. https://web3.ncaa.org/ecwr3/ 12th Grade. Continued course work with more AP classes to completion. Applied for final certification for eligibility with NCAA. We did not need so many AP classes. Swimming: Freshman Year: participated in High School Swimming Only. (NEPSCA Div3 Champion and 3rd). Started and maintained a collegeswimming.com profile. Summer: YMCA and USA Swimming (competed in one Senior Circuit meet) Sophomore Year: Participated in High School Swimming Only (NEPSCA Div3 Champion and 3rd) Summer: USA Swimming and (one Senior Circuit Championship meet) Junior Year: Participated in High School Swimming Only - highest competition was PIAA State Meet (placed 6th and 9th) Summer: USA Swimming - highest competition Senior Championships Senior Year: YMCA and USA Swimming Only. Highest Competition YMCA Nationals (4 events) Swimming Status after Junior Year of High School (this is where most coaches are looking at you): that area of competitiveness that a many swimmers fall, fast and improving but not on college coaches radars. EVERY school is different. EVERY process is different. EVERY swim program operates differently. Develop a relationship with the staff of the swimming department. 6 TIPS 1. Apply to a MIX of schools from D1, D2, D3, and NAIA. We applied to an even mix of D1 and D3 schools. There are leagues in D1 that are less competitive for swimming. We started in the less competitive leagues. We used collegeswimming.com to determine where she fit into the line up. Hint: if you would final in the league meets, Coaches from schools in that league are interested in you. Most D3 schools were within reach for swimming. If we found a school that had our major AND we could swim, it went on our radar. We did not find a good fit in NAIA because of the major we were looking for. 2. Fill out the recruiting questionnaires EVERYWHERE ( Parents, they say let the swimmers fill out the questionnaires. But they are ALL the same and the more you fill out, the more responses you get.) You will receive a TON of generic forms back from them. Respond to it all. You are looking to get on their radar. It’s an email from the actual coach that you want. They will be personal and directed to you. That contact, usually with the assistant coach, is what you will use to determine if you could have future on that swim team. 3. If you receive personalized ANYTHING, respond right away and eagerly. Some coaches go to the effort of handwriting postcards or mailings. THESE are the coaches you want to work with and swim for. And if a coach calls you, respond right way! (This is a good time to mention that voice mail should be set up on your phone). 4. Don’t waste your time if you aren’t getting responses from the Head Coach of the Assistant Coach. Move on. If you want to swim, it most likely won’t be there. We found out after putting an application in to a D1 school, we would not even be allowed on the team if not recruited. OUCH. Yeah, we were just as fast as the recruits. 4. Visit. You may go on 5 official recruiting visits. But just going to campus to introduce yourself does not count as a visit. On the next family vacation email the coach and let them know that you are touring the campus and you would like to meet with them or a swimmer if possible. 5. If you REALLY, REALLY want a Scholarship - you must be OPEN to the possibility that your best chance may be a school that you never thought of attending (or even heard of). The school we ended up enrolling in was not one of the eight schools that we originally applied to. After a well designed and thought out two year process, a half-hearted stop, at the invitation of a Coach, on the way to our top choice school won us over. A D1 Swimming Scholarship can be very appealing. And a small fact, that for some reason we had been overlooking, many Colleges and Universities offer scholarships for high SAT scores. The combination of the two scholarships at this school just could not be passed up. 6. Think D3. D3 schools do not offer swimming scholarships. However, the financial aid packages we received from the D3 schools were very generous. Often these Colleges and Universities have large endowments that offer academic scholarships to athletes. Swimmers tend to be smart so these scholarships are available. D3 swimming is an incredible opportunity! This swimming division can be preferable to this level of swimmer. A word of caution: Coaches come and go at this level of D1 swim program. Be sure to pick your school based on academics and the team NOT the Coach. In July we received word, the very awesome Coach that recruited us was GONE. We await word on a new Coach.
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3/31/2017 0 Comments Season 2 ThoughtsResults: only one swimmer did not see a lifetime best time this season (only swam for 12 weeks and took Christmas Holiday off so…) 5 First Time qualifiers for PIAA State Meet from a team of 20 (so 25% if the team made State Meet) 50s and 100 were by far the strongest events. Best times in the 200 IM and the 200 Free were obtained with the exception of one swimmer who only raced it one time. Steered clear of the 500 Freestyle this season. Swimmers did get best times in it (though they are not distance swimmers.) My distance swimmers mostly swim backstroke now. Will I do it for a third season? Yes, I believe for the amount of training time put in for the results attained is preferable to traditional training. Lessons from this year:
Thoughts for next year:
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Coaching my child in a team environment is challenging. Constantly walking that line between coach and parent produces the highest of highs and lowest of lows. I have also noticed, each season and age is different. This season's lessons: DO play favorites. A great deal of time spent time at the beginning of the season was spent adjusting to a new relationship with my child in context to the team. Every effort was made in the beginning to treat them like everyone else, especially at swim practice. When I made date bars, I brought them in for the team. There would be a look of hurt. Actual hurt. What I realized: all the other swimmers have parents too. They provide things like snack, attention, and love to their swimmers on a daily basis. The parent has to take precedence most of the time. They already are perceived as the favorite, don’t fight it! It is okay to treat them specially. DO use the team. A sassy comment and outright blatant disobedience from a headstrong teenager that I would not stand for in others seem to come naturally to my child some days. Reprimanding was not working. So I started ignoring. Yes, ignoring. Terrible coaching move, but heated exchanges between us that made the pool thick with tension have now become smack downs from teammates. The team knows what is expected and when my child crosses the line, someone in the lane or a captain will usually deal with it swiftly and appropriately. I simply support and give props to the swimmer stepping in. There is a discussion AFTER practice about it but it is always done away from the team. DO just enjoy the swims. Watching my child swim from the deck is simply sublime! I need to stand in the joy of it (if I can squeeze out the nerves long enough). I think back to that first 25 Butterfly, how awed I was with that accomplishment. I find that place of awe when they get on the blocks for every race now. It did not come naturally and took some practice. However, circling back to #1, every other swimmer has that in the stands. Remaining their biggest cheerleader is crucial. There is no post swim critique at the pool any longer. Waiting until after the meet or after dinner, when emotions are not running high, is the best time to go over anything I noticed in the events. They have been great discussions since they too have had time to process the emotions of the races. Best case scenario would be seeing a video of the race that we can run through together but that’s the coach in me coming out….. 10/30/2016 0 Comments Running Against My InstinctsRecently I have been trying to tighten up our dry land program. What I have discovered, dry land training is like anything else in swimming and in life. Consistency is key.
We focus on fast, low resistance movements. Monday and Wednesday we have been hitting the track and Tuesday and Thursday the weight room (only for circuit training). I only started hitting the track because the team is doing a 5K on Turkey Day but it has proved to be a fantastic training opp. At the track: On Monday we do sprints (100 yards) at top speed with strength training exercises between distances. On Wednesday we do suicides that consist of 5 yrds, 10 yrds, 15 yrds while doing a strength training exercise like bear crawls or runner leaps. We have a 5 yrd advance per evolution so we work our way down end zone to end zone. I absolutely LOVE this program. The swimmers like it and it's a great little work out that can be done in 15 mins and back to make it 30 minutes. I have no idea if we will make 5K doing this. Why do we only run short distance at high intensity? My main concern is their ANKLES. I have been slow to taking to running as it encourages tight ankles and tight muscles in general. However, I have been reading more about the ankle and calf muscle function in running that could benefit swimmers if done correctly. Mostly strengthening the dorsiflexion muscles would directly translate to improved wall push offs. Sprint running also should not interfere with the plantar flexion of the foot that is needed for underwaters like long distance running could. This maybe a generalization and I do have to remind swimmers not to run heel first, but rather flatfooted as much as possible. I also notice that when sprinting most of them lean forward, it also encourages proper foot striking for maintaining this dorsiflexion. I had them do a longer run on Wed this week to test the waters on their ability to finish a 5K. They ran about 2.5 miles. I got some ankle complaints during the beginning of the run that seemed to go away once warmed up (aka ...tightened them up for the run :( ). It gave some credence to my instinct that sprint running is safer than distance running. I wish I could find some literature out there. But after Turkey Day running is DONE. On the upside, their conditioning seems pretty decent. In the weight room: A circuit with 10 stations. Thirty seconds on, 15 seconds off 3 x through each station. Some only have time for one time through, other 2x. One night focus is on shoulders and one night on legs with both nights having core stabilization exercises mixed in. We use light weight/high repetition movements. Slam balls, kettle balls, resistant bands etc. ( I will have males swimmers joing us soon that could use a weight regimen. I will revisit this topic at a later date. ) I have to give major props to Ritter Sports Performance (rittersp.com// ---of which I have NO affiliation). They have a library of exercises on their sight that is GOLD. (***On a separate note I can not tell you how much I appreciate their podcast. They interview coaches from around the country and post them online. Invaluable podcast. They also have hosted webcasts that I have sat in for. Love what this company is trying to do and if I had ANY funds at all, I would hire them in a heart beat but for now I can only repay my debt of gratitude with an unsolicited shout out***). It took me several weeks to develop this system and we have stuck with it about six weeks. I am seeing some great strides in strength. My next challenge will be setting a circuit up on deck to accommodate those swimmers that will be doing dry land training during swim practice so I can cycle groups through the middle lanes. Luckily I have the beginning exercises from this group to start that circuit off with... 10/16/2016 0 Comments Week 8 In the BooksIt was an interesting week. Focused on sprint freestyle form and learning shoulder driven freestyle. Found a great video by Mike Bottom of U of Michigan fame regarding this stroke with a great demonstration. Some got it right away. Others are struggling a bit but are at least understanding tempo needs to increase.
It was test set week. For test set we do 20x100. For explanation why I do test sets, please see previous post. This was our second test. There was significant time drop. The smallest time drop was 56 seconds and the largest was 2 minutes and 44 seconds. This is improvement that would exceed my expectations even with traditional training. I am not sure what accounts for the time drop but it was exciting to see. Again, I go back to my stance that if we see this time drop, why do yardage? Their conditioning seems to be improving and this is one justification I give for doing this set. It's for me, NOT for them. I am also starting to see swimmers beginning to get faster 25 times after plateauing for a couple of weeks with no improvements. We have been increasing our repetition number and I have been decreasing our rest to ensure it stays at 20 seconds. This is true for all sets except IM sets. These sets tend to be too difficult to maintain race pace at 20 seconds rest still. They need 30 seconds rest to maintain race pace for 50s IM work. We have not tried 25 IM work. Is this a thing? I need to read up on IM work. 10/10/2016 0 Comments First Meet WeekFell short of expectations.
A few good swims. Swims were not sloppy just fell flat and either short of goal time or WAY off goal time. A couple of observations: 1) All stroke speeds were the same regardless of the distance of event 2) Struggled with 200s 3) Skills were not being performed in the races (underwater work mostly) 4) After 3 events swimmers were not longer able to come close to goal times Many of the issues would be true for any swim program but considering our training method, it seems a personal affront confirming suspicions. Adjustments: 1) Introduce swimmers to the three techniques of freestyle. Reduce the hip rotation for the sprints (aka shoulder driven freestyle). Stroke count must go up for 50s. 2) Reread Rushall recommendations for repetitions of distances. I always aim to go 3 times the race (so 12 50s is really as much as we have been doing when doing 200 work.) This will be adjusted to closer to the 30. 4-5 adjustment, max training period, then the last neural fatigue phase. I also plan to start doing 50s for the 100s. I have never attempted this to date because it was next to impossible to get to that pace in practice. This may be true in freestyle but the other strokes should be able to do this. 3) This is tough. My thought is swimmers will gain this comfort the more races experienced. After being shown video tape of their races, they could plainly see that skills were not being performed. 4) Obviously conditioning issue. 3 event max for a bit. Will need further consideration. Also, quite apparent my swimmers need a more focused strength training regiment. This will need to be developed more effectively than the first seven weeks. Next meet is in four weeks. Nose to the grind stone. 9/18/2016 0 Comments Coaching the coachCoaching the Coach; giving credit where credit due
Week four observations: 1. 200 pace work is becoming more feasible. Freestyle 200 pace is difficult and barely got there last year. I have been working on small chunks of 50’s to encourage more 50 repeats. 2. Coach needs a lot of coaching. I love kicking sets. I love, love, love kicking sets. We do NOT do them. Read here from Rushall entitled THE CRAWL STROKE KICK - NOT PROPULSIVE BUT IT AIDS PROGRESSION. http://coachsci.sdsu.edu/swim/ccf/ccf0503.htm The more I try to find creative solutions to kicking sets, the more I realize this article is correct. I don’t know why, but it’s correct. But a swimmer moving through the water faster kicking just does not translate to a faster swim time. There is little to no relationship to arm swimming and legs really must just facilitate the streamline for more efficient stroking mechanics and power. Set this week was 12x50 all out on 1:00 half blades with snorkels streamline position (remember this training get monotonous and I was attempting to break things up. I do not use fins a lot. Snorkels, yes. ) My goal for the set was two fold: increase leg strength and tire legs out before main set (in writing this out this was a horrible plan from the beginning. Why would I want their legs tired for the main set?) About the third 50 of the set there was noticeable frustration. No one was speaking, breathing was labored, and there was that….tension. Time wise the set was accomplished as written. Swimmer feedback: worst set ever! “But, it had fins and snorkels, and should have been fun and new!” “My hips were being pushed up artificially high so my kick feld unnatural and forced.” Coaching fail. I could see it from the deck. The flailing fins out of the water. I should have stopped the set. But flip side: Epic coaching moment: my swimmers 1)felt that 2. analysed that and 3. Communicated that. Body awareness is the ultimate goal. So this coaching fail is officially the highlight of my week. The other coaching fail called out by swimmer was for my recovery sets. Rushall often recommends kicking sets with boards for socialization. I feel it’s a pain to get boards out just to gab. So often they will kick on their backs. “You realize, having us kick with our hands over our heads allow us NO arm recovery.” DUOH. So recovery sets have turned into timed warm down swimming until I can come up with something better. Coach development needed here. Serious kudos to my coaches in the pool. 9/15/2016 0 Comments Test SetsYes, I do them.
Some literature criticize the use of test sets as not being race specific or neuormuscularly relevant. My set this season is 20x100 with 10 seconds rest, trying to get the lowest 2000 time possible. Each person has a partner. One person records and sends off every 10 seconds while the other person swims. Partners ensures 10 seconds rest is happening. The weaker swimmers are doing 12x100. This is ALL that is done that day. Test sets: 1. Break of the monotony (25s and 50s get VERY monotonous) 2. Challenge the swimmers 3. Provide an in practice opportunity to team build 4. Allow COACH to measure that their physiology systems improvement 9/8/2016 0 Comments 3rd Week Wrap UpBeginning of season we are focusing a lot on turns, streamlines, and even dives. They aren't in great shape so might as well cement these habits in early. Not just repetition but perfect repetition.
Breathing and floating are usually wrapped in together. Rushall spends a lot time discussing buoyancy (most suit related). But one great abstract is FLOTATION IN SWIMMING: THE FORGOTTEN TECHNIQUE MODIFIER. Highly recommended reading. We did no drills (one hard habit to break). They did nothing but focus on when to breathe, how to breathe, what kind of breath to take, their lung function. We did some 25 exhaling completely. We did some 25s fully inhaling. Just focus on what this is doing to your body position. 25 water polo style. 25 deep head. A lot of bilateral breathing to specified patterns. Breathing every stroke required a lot of balance. Not all swimmers can do it. I had no idea it was so difficult to do well. The biggest take away from breathing week: enhanced focus. You could feel it in the pool. Finally 3 weeks in, they are tuning into what their bodies are doing. Making suggestions and observations. Really great week. 2 mile open swim on Saturday morning. Gulp. 9/6/2016 0 Comments Race Pace Worksheets
Each swimmer must have one in their equipment bags. It's difficult to try this training without one. Figuring out everyone's paces on the fly is infuriating. Been there. Done that. Yes, we have equipment bags. They contain a water bottle, this worksheet, and snorkels. Some also have half blades. But that was mostly for summer swimming fun. Waiting for Rushall to publish something about over hydration and I will have to rethink water bottles as well!! |
AuthorI coach for a small high school in a rural area. This page maps out our season. Please feel free to leave questions or comments. Archives
August 2018
CategoriesAll Aides Coaching College Dryland Equipment Fail High School Kicking Meet Pace Work Personal Test Set Theroy |